Believing Their Own Hype?

Following on from my Post-Match Reaction post yesterday, I thought I'd look a little further into the reason why I think we've been so poor of late.

I'm going to start things off by saying I don't blame the manager. Some people may agree, others may not. I do think he needs to consider ditching the diamond formation and trying something new, but for me it's the players who need to be taking the majority of the blame for this poor run of form. I also think this talk of an 'FA Cup hangover' is absolute nonsense. Just because we got a trip to Stamford Bridge to play against the Premier League leaders Chelsea, there's absolutely no reason whatsoever for there to be any kind of 'hangover', or any adverse effect on our league form.

I touched on this in my post match comments yesterday, and I truly believe it's one of the main reasons why we've been so bad recently. Some of our players are at the age where previous Posh players have moved on to bigger and better things. Some of them have been linked with moves away from the ABAX this month, and some may just think they're ready to make the next step in their careers. To me, this screams of nothing other but absolute arrogance. No one has a God given right to move on from this club if they haven't been good enough in the first place. I have seen the phrase 'they believe their own hype' thrown around on Facebook and Twitter, and I agree with that phrase completely. There's some players who seem to think they're top quality footballers, and they believe that even more so than the fans.

It seems to me that some of our players are starting to have their heads turned at the prospect of moves which might not even happen. Some of them seem to think their big money move is just around the corner, when they're not even producing what is expected of them in League One. Most of the players on our books at the moment haven't been promoted out of this league, they're unproven, and I think some of them need to realise this. They haven't actually really achieved anything in their careers yet. They may have made step ups to play for us in the first place, but they need to produce at this level on a regular basis before they can even think about the next step in their careers.

Craig Mackail-Smith, George Boyd, Aaron McLean, Dwight Gayle, Britt Assombalonga - just to name a few of the players who have gone on to bigger and better things following immensely successful spells at our club. When they were here, they weren't constantly thinking about that next move, they weren't believing they were too good for this level, they were playing for our club with a passion we just don't seem to see at the moment. When those players were here, they wanted to be here, and their aims were to score goals and win games for this football club.

They earned their moves, they all helped this club be successful, even if it didn't amount to promotion at times. They cared about the club. They looked as though they wanted to play for the club. And most of all, they put in 100% for the club.

Play for the name on the front of the shirt, and they'll remember the name on the back - Tony Adams

The above quote is something that I feel needs to be shared with our current squad. Forget about your next big move, forget about using the club as a stepping stone - play for our club with passion and effort, and you'll earn your move. Posh's model of signing young players, developing them and selling them for millions has worked brilliantly over the past 10 years, but it seems we now have a group who are literally here to use us as a stepping stone.

I believe the majority of this group of players will eventually go on to bigger and better things, but they need reminding that we're still a football club who wants to be successful, not just a half way house on their route to the top.

Follow me on Twitter: @TomLea_